There is a much more important deficit than any they talk about - the Deficit of Compassion.

In her blog "Wonder in Aliceland" (q.v.), Alice writes:
"nations are not households. If individuals are in debt, it makes sense to make cutbacks. Switch from Tesco to Aldi. Stop running a second car. Restrict holidays to the UK. That sort of thing.

"But a nation’s economy grows by investing in its citizens – and that means spending on infrastructure, healthcare, education, welfare, the services that support people, so that they can contribute back to society both practically, with their time, and financially, through taxation. Policies which only make the rich richer do not benefit the rest of society. Wealth is sticky. Once you’ve got hold of some, it gathers more, and those who have it are frequently reluctant to let go. The ‘trickle-down effect’ is a myth. In reality, wealth has more of a treacle effect.

"So what, if not the economy, am I worried about? I’m worried about another deficit, a much more disturbing one – a deficit of compassion, which has become increasingly apparent and alarming. It’s not just the Tories, all the main parties are showing symptoms.

" And it’s not just immigrants who have had a bad time. The unemployed, the disabled too – basically anybody who doesn’t fit the vision of the Hard Working Families with a good grasp of British Values (mysterious as they are) that the election campaigns of the main parties seem so desperate to target. What of hard working single people? What of all the people who are too disabled or depressed to work? What of those who work just as hard as any CEO, caring for their children, elderly parents, sick relatives?"

Indeed, Alice - what of them? As you say, around them many of our well-fed, complacent politicians have created a toxic atmosphere of blame, suspicion and fear, They have become the scapegoats of our sick society.

Alice goes on:
"For our future to look bright again, we have to stop thinking about people as numbers and statistics but as human beings. We have to acknowledge that not everybody can be (or necessarily wants to be) a Hard Working Family, but that we all have value nonetheless, and deserve respect. Nobody should be without support, if and when they need it. If our politicians want us to trust them again, they have to trust us in return – they have to stop laying the blame on vulnerable people for problems they did not cause, and they have to stop deliberately misleading the public because they think their real agendas might be unpopular."

That is all so true. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world; but what good is that if the wealth becomes ever more concentrated in the hands of a few. It seems to me that it is all a question of priorities. I cannot, nor will not vote for any party that puts the economy before people. The argument that we must get the economy right first in order that some day we all may benefit is but a shallow excuse to feather-bed the large corporations and the bosses and bankers who brought this country to its knees.

People must come first. To create a safe environment for the weak and vulnerable is, in the last analysis, the chief justification for government lest, as Thomas Hobbes said many years ago, life for most of us becomes "nasty, brutish and short".

If to achieve a sound NHS, better schools and a just and fairer society, we need to create and distribute wealth more efficiently, then so be it. But people must always come first; especially those, the weakest and most vulnerable in our society who, for whatever reason, cannot help themselves.

THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT YOUR VOTE. Is it a vote for your way of life or for those whose lives are immeasurably poorer?

David. Whilst I can understand and in some areas sympathise with you thoughts I have to temper your striving for utopia.

"nations are not households. If individuals are in debt, it makes sense to make cutbacks. Switch from Tesco to Aldi. Stop running a second car. .Restrict holidays to the UK. That sort of thing.

Certainly. Spend only on necessities, not on waste

"But a nation’s economy grows by investing in its citizens – and that means spending on infrastructure, healthcare, education, welfare, the services that support people, so that they can contibute back to society both practically, with their time, and financially, through taxtion

.
That does not mean spending on those areas which have no intention of paying back through good citizenship, work resulting in taxable income etc.
Teachers complain about a minority of pupils disrupting classes so that no member of tht class can learn; should "society" not act to prevent the actions of that minority? Whilst on this subject we hear of teachers complaining about the a mount of "work" thet have to do; my neighbour has just left the City to become a teacher and considers that his workload has halved and that his new job is cushy . We are being misled by the unions / press.

On the question of healthcare there are problems. 1) decent health education such as the Civil Defence section of the CH CCF received should cut the visits to doctors and A & E by more than half. A small reimbursable fee for any consultation acuts waiting lists; I have to wait lesss than 60 minute to see my GP and my wife, when she was injured, waited about 3 minutes to see a doctor in A & E. After stitches, an Xray and treatment for a fracture we were out about 40 minutes after arrival. I have "a certain condition"; in the UK when I saw a consultant he sent me for an Xray (2 weeks for the appointment, 2 weeks for results), blood tests (two weeks delay) and specialist tests (more weeks) before he could start to consider the case. Here I have the blood tests semi routinely and when I arrived for the appointment the nurse was waiting to do Xrays and all the other tests. Instead of a couple of months the consultant could diagnose and act in 15 minutes. Simply organisation!
Nobody in need is missed but prevention starts at birth and ends at death..

" Policies which only make the rich richer do not benefit the rest of society. Wealth is sticky. Once you’ve got hold of some, it gathers more, and those who have it are frequently reluctant to let go. The ‘trickle-down effect’ is a myth. In reality, wealth has more of a treacle effect.".........

OK; you don't like people having money but if they take it away then you have no businesses which means no employment which means no tax which means nothing for those in need. Just imagine the huge amounts spent by JLO and the rest. That gives salaries to umpteen people which gives tax to the government . One person in employment supports six other wage earners. Do you really want the rich to shut down the electricity and oil companies, the supermarkets .... which is the effect what you are encouraging.

I could go on but my PC is playing up and even writing the above has taken over an hour

I've just read DaveByTheSea's excellent piece on the Deficit of Compassion. Couldn't agree more. Sadly the Mammon Party has been handed victory, largely thanks to the very biased mainstream media - Murdoch & his cronies, plus the BBC. Did any of you realise there's been a major anti-Government demo today at Downing St., Houses of Parliament etc., & that "kettling" is now taking place? Neither BBC nor ITV has mentioned it - don't know about Sky, we won't have anything Murdoch contaminating our house - yet there have been approx. 10,000 protestors and this on the first day of a new government.
So the first £12billion of cuts will hit the weakest soon, as IDS wields his Nazi ideology to ensure that a few thousand more unfortunates will be added to his suicide & death tally. And we will continue to support our local food bank while trying to contain our fury that such an effort should be necessary.

DavidRawlins wrote:If some of the new government's supporters get their way Sejintenes will have to decide whether to stay in France or not. Border controls will be imposed.

So what? The British have owned property in France for nearly a century without much of a problem. That includes one of my godmothers and a man who appears to be an uncle. ("appears" because I'm going back through a couple of adoptions). One thing that comes across clearly down here is that the Br itish (especially) are appreciated because we keep the villages alive. One local village has two summer fetes - one purely local and one organised by resident ex-pats - and they are extremely popular. In another the school was going to be closed until a horde of British children arrived. Many villages have ex-pats on their councils and at least one has a British mayor.

OK I don't know where the smilie came from - I haven't even had a drink!

DavidRawlins wrote:If some of the new government's supporters get their way Sejintenes will have to decide whether to stay in France or not. Border controls will be imposed.

So what? The British have owned property in France for nearly a century without much of a problem. One thing that comes across clearly down here is that the Br itish (especially) are appreciated because we keep the villages alive. One local village has two summer fetes - one purely local and one organised by resident ex-pats - and they are extremely popular. In another the school was going to be closed until a horde of British children arrived. Many villages have ex-pats on their councils and at least one has a British mayor.

Much the same here in Spain, although there are also a fair number of Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians.